Road accidents are down by more than a third in the past decade as new safety systems like electronic stability control and lane keeping support are making our cars safer than ever, according to experts.

The total number of accidents on British roads fell from 229,000 in 2001 to 146,000 in 2012, a drop of 36 per cent, according to official Department for Transport figures.

Improvements in visibility for drivers, road surfaces and car safety technology over the past decade could explain the declining rate of crashes, the AA said.

Chris Patience, head of technical policy for the AA, said electronic stability control (ESC), which has become widespread in recent years, is "certainly effective" at reducing accidents.

"ESC is one of those technologies that showed so much potential it was rolled up in European legislation, and I think it is the case that it is required on all new cars from 2014," he said.

Some studies suggest the technology, which helps drivers stay in command of their vehicle on bends, can reduce the likelihood of an accident by 25 per cent.

Further improvements such as autonomous emergency braking have arrived more recently and are spreading rapidly, while some high end vehicles now include lane keeping support, which notifies drivers when they are straying across white lines, Mr Patience added.

The accident figures, published by Post Office Motor Insurance, found that the number of accidents almost halved in the North West and West Midlands, but rose slightly in some parts of Scotland.

London and the South East continue to see the most accidents, together accounting for 47,000 in 2012 – almost a third of the total across Britain.

Paul Havenhand, Head of Insurance at Post Office said: “It’s encouraging to see road accidents have continued to fall over the 11 year period, but there’s still much more that could be done to improve road safety, especially in hotspot areas.

"It’s clear that measures to improve visibility, road surfaces and car safety devices have had an impact on the number of accidents on our roads, but it’s just as important that road users don’t become complacent about road safety.”